The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and relevant links.

Four Rainbows Over Banks Lake, Washington

The photo above shows three obvious rainbows over Banks Lake in Washington State. It was taken a little before sunset on June 18, 2014. The bright primary rainbow is at left and its secondary rainbow is at right. In the middle is the primary's reflected bow, standing nearly vertical. In this case the third bow isn't a result of a third reflection of sunlight within raindrops, rather it's due to the reflection of sunlight off of Banks Lake, then being refracted in the raindrops. You can tell that it's a reflection because the color scheme (blue on inside, red on outside) is the same for both the primary and reflected bows. Note that if you look very closely you can detect a fourth rainbow. The reflected bow has a very faint secondary bow as well -- just to the right of the major secondary bow.